Chapter 21

SARA 

Yvonne’s face contorted with disgust. And for the first time since my ordeal began, I agreed with her. How can you be asking to kiss someone you are not even intimately involved with and most crazily, someone you just met. It was the craziest and most stupid thing I've ever heard. Strangely, I was happy that Yvonne and I finally agreed on something, but I couldn't say anything since I could only speak when spoken to. 

But Yvonne had other plans in stock for me. She looked down at me, a cruel idea lighting up her eyes. "Kiss her instead," she commanded, gesturing to me. "She’s the most beautiful thing in this pack, slave or not. Take your pleasure from her." 

Immediately, I felt a knot twist in the pit of my stomach. The speed with which she had sacrificed me to the wolf was heartbreaking, but what was I expecting.

Khalid didn't even move toward me. He looked at me with a strange, haunting respect—or perhaps it was fear. Whatever it was, I couldn't tell. "I would not lay a hand on that one," he said firmly. "That is Alpha Rune the Conqueror’s woman. I value my life too much to touch what he has marked as his. No, Ms. Yvonne. I want a kiss from you."

"What?" Yvonne scowled her face.

"Yeah, you are the only other woman in this room, and you fit the criteria of being a woman of power. That has been a fantasy of mine since I was a child." Khalid said with a weird smirk.

The silence in the room was suffocating. I felt a surge of something—pride? Hope?—at his words. Rune’s woman. Even here, in the heart of my enemy’s house, Rune’s shadow was protecting me. Even though Rune was my personal enemy. Someone I had vowed to take revenge on for killing my father.

Yvonne hesitated, her jaw working as she fought her revulsion. Finally, driven by a desperate need to know the truth, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his in a cold, fleeting kiss. She wanted to pull away the moment their lips met but Khalid had anticipated it and held her in place and their kiss lingered longer than she would have wanted.

Khalid stepped back, looking satisfied. "Alpha Rune has found the scent-maskers that was used in her abduction in Mari's clinic," he whispered, pointing at me. "He knows the signature belongs to Kaelen. He and his council are convinced—absolutely convinced—that the Twilight Zone abducted her. It's only a matter of time now before he acts." He pointed a long, bony finger at me.

Yvonne’s breath hitched. "He knows? What is he planning? Is he marching against us?"

Khalid smiled, taking his time to answer. And in that moment, I think Yvonne failed one critical leadership test. Never show your desperation for anything. "I told you that information was power in this age and time." 

Yvonne grinned her teeth and gave a devilish smiled. "Guards!!" She yelled and five men stepped inside. "Bind him. Force him to his knees. Stab him. Stop. Unbind him. Pull him back to his feet. Take two steps back." The soldiers acted like robots as they carried out all of her orders with speed as she gave them to the surprise of Khalid, who suddenly became scared.

"Have you....?" The fear on Khalid's face made me smile. It was a good way to teach his arrogant ass a lesson. 

"No, information is not power, power is power. With power, you control the narrative, the 'information'. Now tell me what I want to know." She ordered, gaining control of the room.

Khalid shook his head in anger. "He hasn't marched yet," he said, moving toward the door. "But I suspect they will send scouts first. They will want to confirm if she is here before they level this place to the ground. My advice? Hide your trophy. Hide her well."

"Why should I believe you? What if this is a trap to lure us out of Twilight Zone so Alpha Rune and his goons can ambush us. Why should I trust you? What guarantees do I have?" Yvonne sounded desperate again.

"You don't. But I think I'm in love with you. And I'd hate to see you dead. But I'll make you another deal, if this is not a ruse, you owe me a better kiss when next our paths cross again." Khalid offered, winked at Yvonne and left before she could muster a reply. 

"Fuck!! Where's Harlan when you need him?" She cussed and I wanted to remind her that he's locked in the dungeon, but decided to hold my tongue.

The moment Khalid left, the atmosphere of the hall became filled with panicked energy. Yvonne didn't wait for Tristan’s return. She didn't consult the council.

"Pack a bag," she snarled at me, grabbing me by the arm and hauling me toward the servant’s entrance. "We’re going on a road trip. Now!"

For two days, we traveled, changing cars at intervals, to shake off any tail just in case we were being followed. Yvonne was a nervous wreck, constantly looking out the side review mirror, her hand resting on the hilt of her gun while she drove with one hand. We crossed the borders into the territory of the Silvermoon pack, a neutral zone led by Alpha Damon, an old ally of Tristan’s father.

"We are on a week’s vacation," Yvonne announced to the Silvermoon guards as we pulled into their courtyard.

Alpha Damon, a towering man with a kind face and sharp eyes, welcomed us with open arms and a smile. He didn't look like someone who smiled often. He offered us two large, luxurious guest rooms in the East Wing.

"Alpha Damon," Yvonne said, her voice tight. "My... attendant... she is unwell. She has a rare strain of mad cow disease. It’s highly contagious. It would be best if she were kept in your dungeon for the duration of our stay."

Damon looked at me, then back at Yvonne, and wrinkled his brow. "She looks perfectly healthy to me, Ms. Yvonne. And we do not put guests—or their servants—in the dungeon without a crime. She will stay in the room next to yours. My healers will check on her if she is truly ill."

Yvonne fumed but couldn't argue without raising suspicion. After a tense dinner where I was forced to stand behind her chair, she dragged me up to my assigned room and slammed the door.

"Listen to me, you wretched girl," she hissed, pinning me against the doorframe. The luxury of the room—the soft bed, the silk curtains—felt like a cruel joke. "Do not breathe a word of who you are to anyone in this pack. If you speak to Damon, if you even look at a guard the wrong way, I will kill you myself before Rune’s scouts can even find the border. Enjoy this temporary comfort, because the moment we leave, you’re going back to the dirt."

I looked at her, and for the first time, I didn't feel the crushing weight of her authority. We weren't in the Twilight Zone anymore. We weren't surrounded by her supporters and Tristan’s laws.

"You’re scared, Yvonne," I said, my voice low and steady. I didn't kneel. I didn't look away. "I can smell the sweat on you. You’re terrified of what’s coming."

Yvonne blinked, shocked that I was talking back without being addressed. "How dare you speak to me like that?"

"We aren't in your pack house anymore or your territory," I reminded her, a cold spark of defiance lighting up my chest. "Your stupid rules hold no sway here. You can threaten me all you want, but you can't hide the truth. Alpha Rune is coming. And the fact that you had to run away like a thief in the night tells me that you know you’ve already lost."

"Shut up!" she screamed, raising her hand to strike me.

I didn't flinch. "Go ahead. Hit me. Let Alpha Damon see the bruises in the morning and ask why a 'sick' girl is being beaten by her mistress. You’re a coward, Yvonne. You’re playing Alpha because Tristan isn't here, but you’re just a little girl hiding in someone else’s house."

Yvonne’s hand trembled in the air. She didn't strike. She couldn't. She backed away, her eyes wide with a mixture of rage and burgeoning fear. She turned and fled into her own room, locking the door between us.

I stood in the center of the beautiful, lonely room and looked at the silver collar in the mirror. For the first time in over a month, the weight felt a little lighter. I was still a prisoner, but the hunter was now the hunted, and I knew that somewhere out there in the dark, Alpha Rune was turning the world upside down to find me. It gave me hope, even though I hate him. 

"Perhaps, there could be a light at the end of this tunnel." I murmured to myself before I collapsed on the bed.